Flexible construction in respirator mask facepiece



April 26, 1955 J. N. MATHESON ETAL FLEXIBLE CONSTRUCTION INRESPIRATORMASK FACEPIE Filed Sept. 15, 1951 FLEXIBLE CONSTRUCTION INMASK FACEPIECE James N. Matheson, West Reading, and William J.Wiswesser, Kutztown, Pa., assignors to Willson Products, Inc., Reading,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 15, 1951,Serial No. 246,806 3 Claims. (Cl. 128-146) RESPIRATOR The presentinvention relates to improvements in a respirator of protection againstgases and vapors of various kinds. An outstanding disadvantage of commondesigns of the above type of respirator is that they are not comfortableto wear. Therefore, even after they are worn a relatively short time,substantial discomfort results which oftentimes impels the wearer toremove the respirator and thereby expose himself to the deleteriouseffects of breathing dust and noxious fumes.

A further disadvantage of commonly used types of respirators is that inview of variations in the contours of the nose of the wearer atdifferent levels, the nose bridge portion of the respirator will providea good fit only when worn at a given level.

A still further disadvantage of commonly used types of respirators isthat they are generally complicated in construction, requiring specialstiffening material, such as metal wire, bands or straps, and areadaptable to fit a limited number of nose bridge or facial contours,thus requiring the stocking of a number of different sized respirators.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel respiratorwhich is devoid of the above named disadvantages of common types ofrespirators.

A further object of the invention is to provide a respirator having aface piece which is extremely comfortable, yet snug fitting,self-adjusting and providing floating, cushioned engagement of the nose,thereby enabling the face piece to be worn low, in cases wherein gogglesare to be worn by the wearer, or high, as desired by the wearer withoutsacrificing air-tightness.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from a study of the following description, taken with theaccompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a respirator embodying theprinciples of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 ofFigure 1 and more clearly showing the pleated nose bridge portion of therespirator embodying the principles of the present invention, and

igure 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 2 of a modificationof the pleated nose bridge portion, showing a single instead of a triplepleat with a portion broken away.

Referring more particularly to Figure l of the drawing, numeral 1denotes of rubber or similar flexible material and which is cup- ,shapedand somewhat triangular or pear-shaped in con- .tour. Face piece 1 isdesigned to cover the nose, mouth and chin of the wearer and adapted forair excluding contact between the face-contacting periphery thereof andthe face of the wearer. Face piece 1 has a top convex nose bridgingportion 2 and two side concave portions 3 which surround the nose. ofthe lower lobes of face piece 1 are a pair of readily Attached to each2,706,983 Patented Apr. 26, 1955 detachable and replaceable filter orcartridge units denoted generally by the numeral 4. The lowermostportion of the face piece surrounds the chin, and adjacent thereto is anexhalation valve 5 comprising, for example, a rubber diaphragm which isas a screw threaded connection between the base of the and thereceptacle or support attached to the respirator may, of course, besubstituted. The respirator is held against the face of the wearer bymeans of straps 9.

feature of the invention resides in the of the face piece 1 along theface conport1on thereof and,

An important specific shaping tacting marginal the nose bridge nosebridging portion in to fit varying nasal contours and in order to permitthe respirator to be worn either high or low on the nose with equallyeflicient face-contacting, air-excluding engagement without discomfort.The inwardly turned, facecontacting edge portion is greatly reduced inthickness about the bony nasal region.

n order to provide even greater cushioning and automatic ad u fort inspite of long periods during which the respirator is worn.

The pleats may extend throughout an angle of perhaps to 90 from avertical plane at right angles to Figure 2, preferably through an angleof about'35 with the vertical. The pleats may extend about an arc ofabout 85 in the plane of Figure 1 or between 5 and 150", or perhaps evengreater, so as to provide adjustment and cushioning about the entireperimeter of the nose engaging portion. The outermost limit of thepleats in the plane of Figure 2 may be at a level of about inch abovethe uppermost level of the in-turned marginal portions, and the totalheight of the pleats may be of the order of 1 inch.

Although three pleats are shown in Figure 2, for purposes ofillustration, it will be apparent that other numbers of pleats may beselected, such as two, four, or more, or perhaps a single pleat such asshown in Figure 3.

The single pleat shown in Figure 3 extends through an arc in the planeof the drawing of about 35 from the vertical although it will beapparent that the arcuate movement of the pleat may be anywhere between5 up to about 90 to allow any desired range of pivotal movement of thenose bridging portion relative to the remainder of marginal portionabout a forward arc of the nose bridging portion of the mask or facepiece.

Thus, as the respirator is pressed against the face of the wearer ormoved downwardly, the nose bridging portion, because of its inclusion ofpleats, will readily collapse to allow a forward hinging motion of thenose bridging portion and of the inwardly turned marginal edge portionsurrounding the nose and thereby provide a readily yieldable andcomfortable fit in a gas-tight manner about any part of the nose orabout any nasal contour of the wearer.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a highly efiicient face piececonstruction for a respirator or similar apparatus, having aface-engaging cushioned and extremely comfortable fit and having apleated nose bridge portion which is readily collapsible, therebyproviding a yieldable fit with the nose of the wearer regardless ofwhether the respirator is Worn high or low on the nose and regardless ofvarying nasal contours of different wearers and which insures aperfectly gas-tight fit with amazing comfort of wear irrespective of thefact that the respirator may be worn over long periods of time.

While we have illustrated and described two embodiments of ourinvention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of our invention and within the scope of the followingclaims.

We claim:

1. A respirator comprising a face piece of resilient material ofsubstantially cup shape having a marginal portion adapted to surroundthe nose, cheeks and chin of the wearer, and having a pleated portion ofsaid marginal portion comprising a plurality of pleats running over thenose piece spaced at the nose axis and terminating at points on eitherside of the nose piece such as to give an accordion effect and to allowsaid marginal portion surrounding the nose to pivot forwardly, as theresult of collapsing movement of the pleated portion, at an angle withrespect to the remainder of said marginal portion, thereby providing ayieldable, cushioned fit between the respirator and the face of thewearer, particularly about the nose.

2. A respirator as recited in claim 1 wherein said pleated portionextends about the nose through an angle of about 150 and extendsforwardly of the wearer through an arc of the order of 35 and whereinsaid pleated portion tapers to hinge points on opposite sides of thenose surrounding portion.

3. A respirator as recited in claim 1 wherein said pleated portioncomprises a plurality of pleats extending forwardly of the wearerthroughout an arc of between 5 and and having a periphery about the noseof the wearer which extends through an arc of between 5 and and whereinthe pleats terminate at hinge points opposite the nose surroundingportion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Apr. 18, 1929

